Ex-Pa. lawmaker Mellow gets 16 months in prison

Robert Mellow, a former leader of Pennsylvania Democrats whose portrait hangs in the state Capitol, was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison on public corruption charges.

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By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

poconorecord.com

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Posted Nov. 30, 2012 at 7:43 AM
Updated Nov 30, 2012 at 3:40 PM

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Posted Nov. 30, 2012 at 7:43 AM
Updated Nov 30, 2012 at 3:40 PM

» Social News

SCRANTON (AP) — Robert Mellow, a former leader of Pennsylvania Democrats whose portrait hangs in the state Capitol, was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison on public corruption charges.

U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky ordered Mellow, who pleaded guilty in May to a federal conspiracy charge, to pay nearly $80,000 in restitution to the state Senate, along with a $40,000 fine to the federal government.

The former lawmaker issued a brief apology to the court. "I'm embarrassed and I'm ashamed. ... I'm very very sorry," he said.

Mellow was charged with using his Senate staff and staffers for other Democratic senators to run political campaigns in violation of state law.

Slomsky also ordered Mellow, long one of the most powerful figures in state government, to have three years of supervised release after his prison sentence.

"No one has the right to misuse public dollars, your dollars that you send to Harrisburg," Slomsky said. "It's certainly not in the job description of a state senator to use public money for private political purposes."

Defense attorney Daniel Brier argued Mellow, 69, should be spared prison and instead receive probation because of his charitable works, poor health and the fact that he's a caregiver for his severely disabled adult daughter.

The defense, seeking to keep Mellow out of prison, argued that his many charitable and good works, his age and ill health, and the emotional and medical fragility of his severely disabled adult daughter all warranted a sentence of probation.

Defense lawyer Sal Cognetti also bemoaned what he called the criminalization of politics, contending the line that separates campaigning from legislating had been blurry. He portrayed Mellow as an old-school politician whose primary sin was being too slow to change with the times.

"Let's not be too quick to bury him. Let's not be too quick to judge him. Let's consider his entire life," said Cognetti, who read a few of the more than 200 character letters submitted on Mellow's behalf by constituents, clergy, business and community leaders, and politicians ranging from former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell to former GOP state senator and Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis Sempa said Mellow deliberately evaded the law to further his own political career, and deserved to go to prison.

"This is a sad day in Pennsylvania political history because someone who was such an accomplished and effective legislator threw it all away," he said. "Sen. Mellow corrupted his office ... for his own personal benefit."

Mellow served 40 years in the state Senate and was among that chamber's most powerful members. He was the Senate's longest-serving member when he left two years ago after deciding not to run for an 11th term.

Mellow was the Democrats' floor leader for most of the last two decades he was in office, and his portrait hangs in the state Capitol because he served as the Senate president pro tempore for about 16 months from 1992 to 1994.

He announced in February 2010 that he would retire at the end of the year because he wanted to spend more time with his daughters and grandchildren. In June of that year, federal agents searched his home and district office as part of a joint investigation with the Internal Revenue Service into allegations of illegal activity, an FBI spokesman said at the time.

A number of state lawmakers and their aides have been prosecuted in recent years for misusing public funds and resources for campaigns and other purposes. In the House, a long-running state attorney general's investigation resulted in convictions against former Speakers Bill DeWeese and John Perzel, former Reps. Brett Feese and Mike Veon, and others. In the Senate, Jane Orie was convicted in state court and Vince Fumo in federal court.

Mellow continued misusing Senate staff for political fundraising and campaign work even during the state investigation, prosecutors noted in court documents this week, demonstrating "a remarkable lack of respect, and even contempt, for the law."